System Temp Measurement: Speedfan & Speccy

I have been reading a few posts where users have written that speccy gives more reliable measurements of "temperature" than speedfan.

I had believed that every way of determining system "temperatures" in software worked by reading the lower level software outputs of chips which actually measured the voltages of of certain diodes on the CPU, GPU, HDD and others, and performed the ADC function on them.

In many systems (certainly my Compaq Presario S5160UK) this chip is a winbond chip soldered onto, and an integral part of, the motherboard.

Given that these software programs such as speccy and speedfan and others read the output of the same thing (in many cases the winbond chip), how can they more or less reliable ? Surely they are just reading the same information ?

Even (independently) determining the temperatures of components in any system is not trivial, because you have to make good thermal contact between in question, and even then you are not accessing in most cases the die temperature. Thus you have no choice but to rely on the outputs of temperature monitoring diodes embedded in some chips in your system by chip manufacturers.

Dumb_Question
30.July.2013

PS I like speedfan becaue you can easily switch to a graphical display which lets you see the recent history of temperatures.

 

Thanks for your response, David, lots of tips as to how one might keep the temperature in your PC down. Good suggestion about an error margin, you do run your computer cool ! my laptop gets up to 80C(105C max) core temperature (Coretemp), now reading 40-41C . Even before I became aware of Digerati's "fetish" with filters, I was thinking I should I should get one if I installed my new case fan in my S5160UK as an intake fan (being in a room I consider to be dusty)

As I said, I believed the Winbond chip (or equivalent) found and read the thermometric diodes, and all the software programs relied on the data given by this chip. Then the problem becomes determining which unlabelled reading corresponds to which thermometer, and some temperature monitors warn you that is the case (MBM5, Speedfan). In essence, the data all of them work from is the same. If I am wrong, please say.

The BIOS may be more reliable than others, but that can only be displayed before O/S is loaded, and in many cases that's not helpful.

As to whether the diodes yield accurate results, or the ADCs are accurate is a different matter; the ordinary user (myself) cannot do anything about those things, they are in the province of the chip and motherboard designers.

Dumb_Question
31.July.2013
HP Pavilion dm4 1050ea - Win 7 Home Premium - 8GB RAM

 

Have you tried Core Temp? Do not worry about the "Install extra software" option, there is a skip button in the upper right, or click the "More Downloads", and just download the .exe at http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

 

Thank you for this suggestion, brownizs.

I've got coretemp on my dual core laptop, because although I like the graphical display option in speedfan, I think my laptop works fine, and I didn't want to mess with the fan speed - when Speedfan (on my desktop) starts up, the default fan settings are 4%.

(I installed coretemp because sometimes the bottom of my laptop, resting (naturally) in my lap, would feel uncomfortably hot, so I wanted to check that it wasn't overheating....sometimes Coretemp indicates 80C)

Dumb_Question
1.August.2013
HP Pavilion dm4 1050ea - Win 7 Home Premium - 8GB RAM

 

I actually use a aidata cooling mat, that has a mousepad that you can switch from the left or right. I did have to drill a hole on the left & right side, for the USB cord that runs the fan, be able to stick out the side (poor manufacturing for not making an access port for the cord from the fan to be pulled out the side, without compressing it between the shells).

It actually works out pretty good. Normally my temps on my Satellite C850-st3nx1, runs about 113, can go up to around 120-125 if running CPU heavy programs, or trying to open up a explorer window with files for one of our security cameras.

I never did like Speed fan, always have loved Core Temp.

 

Hey Brownizs, your temperatures seem very hot.
This webpage reckons your CPU (from Toshiba website specs for your model) has max operating temperauture of 100C. Intel document seems to confirm this. Doesn't your CPU shut down ?

And Toshiba website tells me that your laptap originally came with 4GB memory. Don't you struggle with that aamount ?

You've probably upgraded both of these things though. (I ask these questions for my own edification)

Dumb_Question
1.August.2013

 

As of late speccy it self is giving wrong temps and does not update as quickly as it did.

I would recommend on using CPUID HWMonitor

 

Thanks for that important new information, Goldenskull.

I have HWMonitor but never use it - can't remember why.

I am still using Speedfan ver 4.49 so presumably it works as well it used to, anyway temperatures given by Speedfan and the others have always been reasonably consistent with each other. (Speedfan also enables me to control the fan speeds, anyone know any other program which will do that ?)

Dumb_Question
1.August.2013
Compaq Presario S5160UK DT261A under XP/SP3
Processor - Celeron 2.7 GHz
Motherboard - MSI MS-6577 v2.1
RAM - 1GB + 512MB (1GB +1GB max) DDR PC2700
PSU - Octigen 300W model 10270PSOTG ('upgraded' from original Bestec 250W PSU [in 2011?])
Nvidia GeForce 6200 graphics card in AGP slot.

 

May want to look again. The model I posted is a AMD E1-1200 CPU, not Intel. Yes any computer would shutdown, if those temps I posted, were Celsius. They are Farenheit temps btw. Also no those machines do not struggle with 4gb. Most of us upgrade them to the max of 16gb. The two in our household both have 12gb. One has a 250gb SSD.

My son & I have the same machines,but purchased about six months apart, so there are some minor revisions in the bios and motherboard, but they are exactly the same units.

 

Brownizs,

deg F, are you living in the 19th century ? haha, well that explains and clears that misunderstanding up :-o. I must learn to think more flexibly ! 120F, why that's less than 50F ! A cooling pad indeed :-D Thanks for explaining.

I believe what you say over and above what any crummy website says (bound to be inaccurate, out-of-date or too new [haven't changed model no.]), but here's Toshiba's webpage on the C850-ST3NX1. Is it the model you referred to ? (if you did want to check the specs on your laptop, you'd be confused), Maybe there was an option to have the AMD processor ?


Dumb_Question
1.August.2013

 

Nice, works well, thanks...

 

This is the machine my son & I have (just left the D off, when I typed it, which is the rev. of that series of C850's) http://support.toshiba.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=3537237&isFromTOCLink=false Owning a Celeron is 19th Century. Fahrenheit as a temperature is not 19th Century, since it is still a common form of measurement, just like Celsius. Easier to post in Fahrenheit as a temp on computers, due to most of us old guys have grown up around using that form of measurement when checking computer temps, or outside temps.

I have owned more Intel CPU's over time, but there is a limit to how far most of us will go after using that CPU for over 25 years, and now most of us are moving towards the AMD chipset, since they run cooler, and are better at handling processing for regular everyday tasks.

 

The "D" is important ! Still, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between an AMD and an Intel without seeing the letters that made up the words ! Still thanks for making that all fit together, and for the educational discussion on Toshiba PCs, good price, too (in the US).
Just joking about F & C of course. I still like to think of outside & water temps in F (personal sensation) and less personal temperatures in C (or even K). Comes from studying science a lot.

Dumb_Question
2.August.2013

 

Really. Never knew that. No exclamation point needed to express your grief. As for Kelvin, that is the only true real way of measurement of temps, I agree.

 

I have been using HWMonitor lately be cause Speccy is bugged and HWMonitor is a little better with temps.Only thing you should use speccy for any way is the System information.